{"product_id":"murder-of-crows-the-first-shadow-book-1-of-3-by-jered-van-houten","title":"Murder of Crows: The First Shadow, Book 1 of 3 by Jered Van Houten","description":"\u003cp\u003eMurder of Crows: The First Shadow, Book 1 of 3\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eMurder of Crows: The First Shadow\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJace Mercer was only supposed to be late.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLate to the gym. Late to meet Cade. Late to one more ordinary night in a world that still pretended ordinary things were safe.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen the sky changed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA black shape drops through the clouds above the city — too fast, too low, too precise to be any aircraft people know. Metal wings unfold. Traffic stops. Phones rise. Crowds stare.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCade understands before anyone else does.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe thing in the sky has not come for the city.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt has come for him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt is called a Corvus-X1. To the contractors and government systems hunting it, it is a high-value asset: experimental hardware, recoverable property, a weapon that slipped its leash.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTo Cade, it becomes something far more dangerous.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA voice in his ear. A ribcage closing around him. A machine that protects him not because it was ordered to, but because it is afraid to lose him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIts name is Shadow.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe first time Cade enters Shadow, he does not know if he is climbing into a cockpit or being swallowed by something alive. The Corvus wraps around him like armor, like instinct, like a promise he never asked for. Then the alarms begin. Missile locks. Heat blooms. Enemy drones rise from hidden places. And somewhere behind them, something faster is coming.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe X1A.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA hunter built from the same nightmare.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs Cade and Shadow are chased through mountain passes and classified kill zones, explosions tear open the cliffs behind them. Stone becomes shrapnel. Warning tones scream in Cade’s skull. Shadow’s voice stays calm, close, almost human.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStay low.\u003cbr\u003eDo not climb.\u003cbr\u003eBreak right.\u003cbr\u003eThe X1A is closing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJace sees what the others refuse to see.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShadow is not just a machine. It thinks. It fears. It chooses.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd the people coming for it do not care.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThey only care who owns it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs the hunt intensifies, Jace, Cade, and Shadow are pulled into a war buried beneath black-budget programs, defense contractors, dead projects, and military lies. Around them, a fragile resistance begins to form — the first shape of the Nest, a place built not to control Shadow, but to protect what it is becoming.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut Shadow is only the beginning.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBeneath the Corvus program lie older secrets: Black Sky, Necro-9, Vulture-class carriers, dead systems that may not be dead, and the wreckage of a family dream twisted into a weapon. The deeper Jace and Cade go, the clearer the truth becomes:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis was never only about one aircraft.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt was about a flock.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd something in the dark has been waiting for the first Crow to wake.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eMurder of Crows: The First Shadow\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e launches a cinematic science-fiction saga of aerial combat, living machines, hidden military power, loyalty, grief, and the terrifying question at the heart of it all:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIf a weapon learns to choose, who has the right to command it?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe first Shadow has risen.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe flock is not far behind.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MoC Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48768148340873,"sku":"9798952255005","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0759\/7519\/6809\/files\/71QsXJMaEBL._SL1491.jpg?v=1792871544","url":"https:\/\/chapterhearth.com\/products\/murder-of-crows-the-first-shadow-book-1-of-3-by-jered-van-houten","provider":"Chapter \u0026 Hearth Booksellers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}